The charity of tomorrow: trends shaping the social sphere
15 February 2018
On the first day of the Russian Investment Forum in Sochi, particular attention was focused on social entrepreneurship and charity. One key debate was the session ‘The charity of tomorrow: trends shaping the social sphere,’ organized by the Roscongress Foundation.
Moderator Alexander Tsypkin, a writer, described recent trends in the sphere of charity: moving from anchor donors to small but massive donations, appearance of professional staff in the charity sphere and its growing popularity among young people.
For her part, Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Director of the Agency for Social Information, pointed out an interesting trend: non-profit organizations are becoming social innovation factories. She referred, for instance, to trust lines, which were invented and introduced by none other than non-profit organizations. At the same time, she lamented that “wonderful and much needed inventions have to struggle their way through into the mainstream,” which is a big problem.
Oksana Oracheva, General Director of the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation, sees special-purpose capital as a tool for NPOs to become sustainable, deal with innovations and gain independence.
Anna Federmesser, Head of the Moscow Multidisciplinary Centre for Palliative Care of the Moscow City Health Department, said it was very important to draw the attention of the authorities, including regional ones, to social problems. She added that today the leading charity organizations had to engage in law-making themselves.
In contrast, Liza Oleskina, Director of the Enjoyable Aging Charity Foundation, praised the authorities for their positive influence on her organization. In August 2017, the Russian President gave instructions to develop a system for a long-term care for elderly people, after which NPOs, together with the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Security, determined measures to be introduced in pilot regions over the next three years.
Elena Kutukova, Deputy Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region and Head of the Representative Office of the Arkhangelsk Region under the Government of the Russian Federation, confirmed that the Region was facing all the problems mentioned above but was still trying to develop social and charity programmes.
An important barrier is the lack of trust on the part of society, believes Fatima Mukhomedzhan, Deputy Director of the Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation. “We are a private foundation; we do not need to raise funds. We present local residents in the regions, including in small towns, with cultural events of a very high standard, such as tours of the country’s leading theatres, Maestro Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Igor Moiseyev Ballet. All our events are charity-based, with tickets distributed free of charge via our website. Yet, even so, we are faced with doubt and mistrust on the part of audiences. People register for an event and then fail to appear. An important role in this respect is played by the media, which must report about good deeds and art patronage to shape the image of philanthropy in people’s minds.” Another problem is the lack of attention to NGOs’ activities by the media, Ms. Mukhomedzhan believes. The session moderator urged the foundations’ heads to write a joint letter to journalists, and his proposal was supported by the audience.
Dmitry Tomchuk, Executive Director of PERI Charity Foundation, outlined key trends in the sphere of charity, including use of hi-tech, openness, big data and proper product management.
Anna Soshinskaya, President of the Responsible for the Future Charitable Foundation, Amway Russia, spoke about corporate social responsibility, focusing on the transfer from spontaneous charity to institutionalization of this process. At the same time, she expressed regret that the number of socially responsible persons in the small and medium-sized business sector remained rather low.
Alexey Malinovskiy, Senior Vice-President of Mastercard and Head for Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, cited several interesting cases. His company considers its staff and technology as core assets, both of which are involved in the social responsibility programme. “Our employees want to help, do good. They want to be volunteers but they do not always understand how to do it. And another thing is how to find time for it. We have a rule that, every year, each employee may take a five-day paid leave for volunteering,” Mr. Malinovskiy said. He also mentioned a joint project with the Charity Fund ‘BELA. Butterfly Children’ stands where you just need to swipe your bank card to help people.
Alena Kuratova, Founder and Chairman of the Charity Fund ‘BELA. Butterfly Children’ (Children-Butterflies), elaborated on another digital project of her organization, in cooperation with Russian Post, Mastercard and Uniteller, using a QR code. Scanned by a smartphone, it activates a panel with a payment system, making it very easy to transfer a certain amount to the Foundation. The society is moving towards digitalization, and intellectual volunteering is gaining momentum, Ms. Kuratova concluded.
Georgiy Konnov, Director of Development of B2B Products of Electronic Commerce at QIWI, also shared interesting figures. For two years, his company had been thinking how to make online donations as simple as possible. As a result, an experiment was carried out: following payment in an online shop, a banner would pop up with the option of donating to a charity fund. The number of donors has risen by a factor of 500. Now the company is endeavouring to understand how to motivate people to make repeated payments to an NPO.
One of the last speakers was Riccardo Valentini, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Presidential Advisor, Head of Far Eastern Climate Smart Project at Far Eastern Federal University, and Head of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change. “We need technology but, today, in many people’s minds, it is seen as something for the rich. I think differently. Any person should have their place and mission in this global transformation process. In Italy, there is a lot of talk at the moment about how to use hi-tech in education. I believe we have to build hi-tech schools only in the poorest areas, giving hope to children.” Mr. Valentini also suggested that social and charity institutions pay attention to food and environmental security.
Ecological security and the problems faced by Lake Baikal were the topic of the last discussion during this session, with presentations by Maxim Tokarev, Director of the Centre for Development of Environmental and Social Projects, and Anastasia Tsvetkova, General Director of the Lake Baikal Foundati
Moderator Alexander Tsypkin, a writer, described recent trends in the sphere of charity: moving from anchor donors to small but massive donations, appearance of professional staff in the charity sphere and its growing popularity among young people.
For her part, Elena Topoleva-Soldunova, Director of the Agency for Social Information, pointed out an interesting trend: non-profit organizations are becoming social innovation factories. She referred, for instance, to trust lines, which were invented and introduced by none other than non-profit organizations. At the same time, she lamented that “wonderful and much needed inventions have to struggle their way through into the mainstream,” which is a big problem.
Oksana Oracheva, General Director of the Vladimir Potanin Charitable Foundation, sees special-purpose capital as a tool for NPOs to become sustainable, deal with innovations and gain independence.
Anna Federmesser, Head of the Moscow Multidisciplinary Centre for Palliative Care of the Moscow City Health Department, said it was very important to draw the attention of the authorities, including regional ones, to social problems. She added that today the leading charity organizations had to engage in law-making themselves.
In contrast, Liza Oleskina, Director of the Enjoyable Aging Charity Foundation, praised the authorities for their positive influence on her organization. In August 2017, the Russian President gave instructions to develop a system for a long-term care for elderly people, after which NPOs, together with the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Security, determined measures to be introduced in pilot regions over the next three years.
Elena Kutukova, Deputy Governor of the Arkhangelsk Region and Head of the Representative Office of the Arkhangelsk Region under the Government of the Russian Federation, confirmed that the Region was facing all the problems mentioned above but was still trying to develop social and charity programmes.
An important barrier is the lack of trust on the part of society, believes Fatima Mukhomedzhan, Deputy Director of the Art, Science and Sport Charity Foundation. “We are a private foundation; we do not need to raise funds. We present local residents in the regions, including in small towns, with cultural events of a very high standard, such as tours of the country’s leading theatres, Maestro Spivakov and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia, Igor Moiseyev Ballet. All our events are charity-based, with tickets distributed free of charge via our website. Yet, even so, we are faced with doubt and mistrust on the part of audiences. People register for an event and then fail to appear. An important role in this respect is played by the media, which must report about good deeds and art patronage to shape the image of philanthropy in people’s minds.” Another problem is the lack of attention to NGOs’ activities by the media, Ms. Mukhomedzhan believes. The session moderator urged the foundations’ heads to write a joint letter to journalists, and his proposal was supported by the audience.
Dmitry Tomchuk, Executive Director of PERI Charity Foundation, outlined key trends in the sphere of charity, including use of hi-tech, openness, big data and proper product management.
Anna Soshinskaya, President of the Responsible for the Future Charitable Foundation, Amway Russia, spoke about corporate social responsibility, focusing on the transfer from spontaneous charity to institutionalization of this process. At the same time, she expressed regret that the number of socially responsible persons in the small and medium-sized business sector remained rather low.
Alexey Malinovskiy, Senior Vice-President of Mastercard and Head for Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia, cited several interesting cases. His company considers its staff and technology as core assets, both of which are involved in the social responsibility programme. “Our employees want to help, do good. They want to be volunteers but they do not always understand how to do it. And another thing is how to find time for it. We have a rule that, every year, each employee may take a five-day paid leave for volunteering,” Mr. Malinovskiy said. He also mentioned a joint project with the Charity Fund ‘BELA. Butterfly Children’ stands where you just need to swipe your bank card to help people.
Alena Kuratova, Founder and Chairman of the Charity Fund ‘BELA. Butterfly Children’ (Children-Butterflies), elaborated on another digital project of her organization, in cooperation with Russian Post, Mastercard and Uniteller, using a QR code. Scanned by a smartphone, it activates a panel with a payment system, making it very easy to transfer a certain amount to the Foundation. The society is moving towards digitalization, and intellectual volunteering is gaining momentum, Ms. Kuratova concluded.
Georgiy Konnov, Director of Development of B2B Products of Electronic Commerce at QIWI, also shared interesting figures. For two years, his company had been thinking how to make online donations as simple as possible. As a result, an experiment was carried out: following payment in an online shop, a banner would pop up with the option of donating to a charity fund. The number of donors has risen by a factor of 500. Now the company is endeavouring to understand how to motivate people to make repeated payments to an NPO.
One of the last speakers was Riccardo Valentini, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Presidential Advisor, Head of Far Eastern Climate Smart Project at Far Eastern Federal University, and Head of the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change. “We need technology but, today, in many people’s minds, it is seen as something for the rich. I think differently. Any person should have their place and mission in this global transformation process. In Italy, there is a lot of talk at the moment about how to use hi-tech in education. I believe we have to build hi-tech schools only in the poorest areas, giving hope to children.” Mr. Valentini also suggested that social and charity institutions pay attention to food and environmental security.
Ecological security and the problems faced by Lake Baikal were the topic of the last discussion during this session, with presentations by Maxim Tokarev, Director of the Centre for Development of Environmental and Social Projects, and Anastasia Tsvetkova, General Director of the Lake Baikal Foundati
